October 1, 2013

As much as I love modern, as of late my thoughts are turning to thinking about California Architecture. The freedom the houses have, the romance. You can feel the salt in the air! Wallace Neff is really one of the pioneers in this style of architecture.

So much is always written about Santa Barbara style, but not a lot about who is responsible for it. So, as a break from fashion, I thought I will introduce you to two of the top guys from the early period in that style.

Wallace Neff may have been the preeminent architect of Spanish colonial-revival houses in Southern California, but surprisingly little has been written about him, despite the publicity he received for designing great estates for Hollywood legends such as Mary Pickford.

“I just build California houses for California people,”

this exceedingly private architect told friends and clients. In fact, Neff was an ambitious and inventive designer who was not only adept at manipulating traditional styles to please famous, wealthy clients like Cary Grant, Claudette Colbert, and Darryl Zanuck;

he was also a pioneer in low-cost housing and pneumatic building.

The Bubble House, as his best-known Airform structure was fondly nicknamed, had a social vision as compelling as that of any modernist housing project.

Wallace Neff (1895– June 8, 1982) was an architect based in Southern California and was largely responsible for developing the region’s distinct architectural style referred to as

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